On either side of this gate tower stood two strange beast statues, imposing and majestic. One was a horse raising its head in a long neigh toward the heavens; the other somewhat resembled a Light Beast, yet had a turtle-shell-like carapace on its back. Both beasts carried things upon their backs. The horse bore something like a scroll painting, while the turtle-backed beast carried a vermilion brush! Beyond the gate tower's vast and mighty aura lay a broad, straight avenue within the Imperial Academy. At the end of that avenue stood another Confucian cultivator statue several zhang tall. This statue wore ancient, simple Confucian robes, with a conspicuously protruding forehead. Its hands were raised before its chest as though clasped in salute, likewise holding a scroll and a vermilion brush.
Around the Confucian cultivator statue, accompanied by the ringing sounds of students reading aloud within the Imperial Academy, countless strands of pure Qi emerged from all around. They drifted through the sky above the academy like swimming fish, freely circling the statue, while waves of Vast Righteous Qi spread from the Imperial Academy throughout Tongzhu Kingdom!
It was truly a peaceful, bright, and splendid world!!
Unfortunately, this scene resembling a paradise beyond the mortal realm was abruptly torn apart by a horse's neigh that rang through the skies. Not only did the orderly Vast Righteous Qi surge into the air toward the source of that neigh, but the students in the academy and gardens also had their gazes drawn toward it. When they looked up, what a sight they beheld! A radiance comparable to the moon descended from the heavens. Within that glow, the sacred Heavenly Horse's mane streamed in the wind. Upon its back stood a lean, tall man with restrained majesty on his face, descending with the Heavenly